Simplified Acceptable Content Guide

Quote by seductivebeast76

I know it said no drugging, but does that mean just illegal ones or drugs that can make someone horny, and aroused also are not allowed?

Drugs, within certain, adult contexts, are permissible. However, responsibility and consent are a must and need to be established prior to anything happening. For example, slipping somebody a roofie and taking advantage of them is not only morally despicable, but it's forbidden on Lush for good reason, but people taking an aphrodisiac of their free will and then having wild sex is perfectly fine.

Thank krystalg and I don't want to write anything forced just put someone in a position that is fighting against their desires and while under the effect of the drug finally give in to it.

As long as that person takes the drug knowingly and willingly, it's okay.

What do you consider relationships between first cousins?

Quote by aznlyon

What do you consider relationships between first cousins?

Blood relatives go into fantasy

Is it still the case that emojis are banned within stories, even where exchanges by text message are depicted? Generally, I think it’s a good rule. But emojis are so ubiquitous in text messages these days that it feels like a forced error to omit them. 😖 For many people, emojis are part of natural text speak. In a couple of cases recently, the lack of emojis in text messages, where it feels like a character would use them, has actually pulled me out of the story.

You should be able to use old school text emojis, even if not the modern graphic ones. So : ) ; ) and so on. Interested in the mod ruling on this one since I have dialogue over text occasionally myself

Emoticons (sequence of symbols) are okay.

We avoid using emojis (the images) because some systems don't recognise them and for some they may appear like a square.

Quote by Safryzer

Is it still the case that emojis are banned within stories, even where exchanges by text message are depicted? Generally, I think it’s a good rule. But emojis are so ubiquitous in text messages these days that it feels like a forced error to omit them. 😖 For many people, emojis are part of natural text speak. In a couple of cases recently, the lack of emojis in text messages, where it feels like a character would use them, has actually pulled me out of the story.

As Seeker said, text emojis are fine when used in text messages as long as you don't go crazy with them, then they become distracting. The graphical ones sometimes show up as empty squares on some devices/browsers. Plus they don't work for screen readers

Edit to add:

Quote by AvidlyCurious

Emoticons (sequence of symbols) are okay.

We avoid using emojis (the images) because some systems don't recognise them and for some they may appear like a square.

Yes, this. She was faster than me.

Yes, I echo the above. And also, graphical emoji don't translate well into a screen reader or other assistive tech experience, as MollyDoll said.

Some might argue that "colon close parenthesis" isn't very meaningful either, but at least screen reading software has a chance of interpreting ASCII sequences and converting them to something meaningful when reading them aloud.

That is not the case with graphical symbols which, on a technical level, tend to occupy the upper ends of the Unicode character space, or be custom graphics for particular applications, and may be interpreted as garbled multi-byte sequences depending on the user's locale.

It's all a bit of a mess, so we err on the side of caution. Text-only emoticons please and, like all literary devices, sparingly.

Ah, okay; thank you for all of the insights, which make perfect sense.

I’ll think twice about using texts in the story in question, as there doesn’t seem to be a way to reflect how people text in the real world, without causing such issues.

It’s helpful to know that emoticons are allowed, but they often can’t replace emojis, and purely using them might date an exchange misleadingly.

I agree writers should be judicious with such devices. But, as I say, their omission can also be a distraction.

It seems to be a Catch-22. 🤷🏼‍♂️ [Shrugs-shoulders emoji.]

I have an idea for a politically motivated story floating around my head and didn't want to get started until my understanding of the rules were crystal clear

To my understanding, we are not allowed to use real people? Assuming that is correct, what is the criteria for avoiding crossing the line of a story rejection? I.e, if I used similar names and attributes which would make the subjects of my story crystal clear without mentioning names directly, would that still be against the rules?

Quote by carlsnap12
if I used similar names and attributes which would make the subjects of my story crystal clear without mentioning names directly, would that still be against the rules?

As long as it's woolly enough that nobody sues the site, you're good. So it's better to steer clear of names that sound too similar.

What, I can't have actor Tod Cruze hook up with singer Tyler Fast?🤣

This is not your site, so you have no say in its rules and strictures. The solution to your outrage is quite simple: build your own and open the flood gates wide. The results might prove amusing.

Perhaps you should spend some time learning to read. "...you have no say in its rules and strictures." Please feel free to blather all you wish about your ethics, but do not expect anything to change simply to placate your moral outrage.

Again: build your own site. I believe there is a gentleman in Paris who can offer pointers.

Again: build your own site.

Please forgive me everyone for feeding the troll. I will retire now and do penance.

(He wasn't that interesting anyway.)

Kistin is correct. This site is privately owned, and the site reserves the right to enforce its own regulations and standards of conduct among its members. It has no obligation to publish the speech of any of its members, especially when that speech violates the terms of service for the site. Call it censorship if you must, but if you feel that the site guidelines are too restrictive, publish elsewhere or self-publish.

Quote by Just_A_Guy_You_Know

Kistin is correct. This site is privately owned, and the site reserves the right to enforce its own regulations and standards of conduct among its members. It has no obligation to publish the speech of any of its members, especially when that speech violates the terms of service for the site. Call it censorship if you must, but if you feel that the site guidelines are too restrictive, publish elsewhere or self-publish.

What he said. A site having rules for what content it wants to publish is not the same as censorship. It is in the same league as a science site having a rule that they won't accept a science fiction story. It's simply a site wanting to publish a certain type of content and having a particular vision for what it is about.

Quote by EAM6690

So you admit you're dishonest, can't / won't refute my logic. Just you being a troll saying in essence " don't try to improve this site, go away". You support censorship here, which means you support ALL censorship.

A Christian fundamentalist state prosecutor could file to have this site taken down for "obscene content transported over state lines". That has happened before.

Elon? That you, bud? Everything okay?

Quote by EAM6690

So you admit you're dishonest, can't / won't refute my logic. Just you being a troll saying in essence " don't try to improve this site, go away". You support censorship here, which means you support ALL censorship.

A Christian fundamentalist state prosecutor could file to have this site taken down for "obscene content transported over state lines". That has happened before.

These are the terms of your membership here whether you have read them and understood them doesn't matter. They are there in writing, nonfiction and completely enforcable. If you vehemently disagree with the terms of your membership below you should not have agreed to them by creating an account.

https://www.lushstories.com/legal/acceptable-use-policy

Quote by Seeker4

What, I can't have actor Tod Cruze hook up with singer Tyler Fast?🤣

Kravitz Yeltzie wouldn't be too happy about that.

I thought we could have real life characters as long as they are long dead.. e.g. I wrote a story about a time traveller shagging the painter Degas in 19th century Paris. Other stories from other authors include long dead royalty and such like. I know fan fiction isn't allowed but if they've been dead so long they are out if copyright (70 years) isn't that OK?

Quote by deviantsusie
I thought we could have real life characters as long as they are long dead.

In the 21st century, even the dead can sue...🙄🤣

But, yeah, that was my understanding, too. Basically, pre-20th century is good or something like that. Hope Jen or a mod chimes in soon to confirm and clarify, though.

Dead people and characters in the public domain are okay (fanfiction is not, though).

But not like dead in the story, cause that's just ick.

Quote by kistinspencil

But not like dead in the story, cause that's just ick.

Yeah, I think it needs to be clear that we are talking setting the stories when the dead people are still alive.

There also probably needs to be a qualifier that this is people dead long enough to be public domain (i.e. died more than 70 years ago). Estates of more recently deceased folks might not like us using them in our smut.

Quote by kistinspencil
But not like dead in the story, cause that's just ick.

What about the 'living dead'? Hallowe'en is just around the corner:

"Unnggghhhh" he said, shuffling from side to side as his tattered rags flapped in the breeze.

"Urrrhh," she moaned, swaying slowly and gazing deep into the dark hollow sockets where his eyes had long ago been pecked out by scavenging birds.